NCC Commissioner queried over false allegations

The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson has queried an Executive Commissioner in the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for levelling unsubstantiated allegations against the Ministry of Communications Technology and the NCC, The Nation, has learnt.

The Commissioner had alleged that billions of naira were lost under the current leadership when frequency bands were allocation to two private companies without following due process.

He was said to have made the allegations in the Presidency during discussions on the conflict between the Ministry of Police Affairs and the private firm.

The Presidency is also said to be miffed over insinuations linked to the Commissioner in a daily newspaper, (not The Nation) that top government officials and the Presidency were indicted over waiver granted to MTS First Wireless, a company now owned by AMCON. The report alleged that the waiver was in favour of the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Juwah.

Juwah described the allegation as spurious, stressing that he had nothing to do with MTS First Wireless Limited since he left in 2005.

He blamed the allegation on those who are desperate to undo him at the Commission.

A reliable source at the Ministry of Communications Technology said the Commissioner is suspected of masterminding the recent phony reports about frequency racketeering at the regulatory body with the intent to rubbish Juwah.

The source said the contents of the report bore semblance to written comments by the Commissioner in his earlier submissions at a meeting in the Vice President’s office, which were circulated to several government officials, including the Minister of Communications Technology.

He said: “When we read the newspaper reports, we found that they have quoted from the same documents circulated by the Commissioner and in few days following, the same newspaper published an indictment of the Presidency regarding the waiver to MTS”

The source also noted that the Commissioner has made matters worse by granting several interviews to some daily newspapers and online publications, where he repeated the allegations, insisting that any disciplinary actions against him by the Board will not stand as he is a member of the board, and did not attend the meeting where such decision was taken.

The Minister of Communication Technology is said to have constituted a disciplinary committee to interview the Commissioner with a view to giving him a fair hearing before the matter is referred to the Presidency for appropriate actions, given the fact that he is yet to prove that any fraud has been committed in the assignment for frequencies by the Commission.